IE6, Bb and Tests

Posted on Monday, April 17, 2006 - 8:08 am:

Another follow-up on this issue. Another college on the ASU list reported at the weekend that a quiz with 25 short answer questions crashed IE if it had this update. This is because there are 25 WYSIWYG editors if the questions are presented all at once, and IE can't cope.

If you run into this problem I would suggest altering the quiz to a one at a time format.

David

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David Carter-Tod
ITS - Client Services
Virginia Community College System
dcartertod@vccs.edu

Handout (.pdf) on IE6 issues with Bb

Posted on Friday, April 14, 2006 - 10:26 am:

Towson State has created a very nice two page handout on this issue with regard to Blackboard. The document is released under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License (http://creativecommons.org/about/licenses/), so can be shared.

http://wwwnew.towson.edu/facultyonline/Documents/ActiveXControls.pdf


David

---

David Carter-Tod
ITS - Client Services
Virginia Community College System
dcartertod@vccs.edu

Microsoft update to IE6 and impact on Blackboard

Microsoft released an update to IE6 on Tuesday, Feb 28

• This update will change the way IE handles some active content.
• You can read info from MS at http://support.microsoft.com/kb/912945 which describes some issues MS is working on.
• The "mandatory" download went out on April 11.

The following is from Craig Chanoff, Vice President, Support Blackboard Inc.:

Blackboard just sent the following notice regarding this IE Update - the most wide-ranging impact appears to be on the WYSIWYG editor:

quote:
On April 11, Microsoft is releasing a critical update in response to patent litigation between Microsoft and Eolas (http://msdn.microsoft.com/ieupdate). The update also includes critical security fixes for Internet Explorer. Most users will receive this update automatically via Windows Update. After the update, users will be required to activate applets, ActiveX controls and other embedded objects and plug-ins before they can interact with them. Activation requires hitting the space bar, pressing the enter key, or using the mouse to click on the item. Users running the Firefox or Safari web browsers will not be affected by this update.

General issues affecting all products

Embedded content (including video, audio, Flash) cannot be controlled until activated. Each item is framed with a window that prompts the user to "Press SPACEBAR or ENTER to activate and use this control." After users follow the instructions or click using their mouse; users can use the controls to start, stop or replay embedded content.

An item that contains an equation, or was created from the Equation Editor, will launch a text window that prompts the user to "Press SPACEBAR or ENTER to activate and use this control." The equation will still render on the page.

In general, our testing has uncovered increased instability with the IE browser after this update has been applied. We are escalating this issue with Microsoft.

Blackboard Academic Suite™ & Blackboard Community System™ (Versions 6 and 7, including Application Packs)

- Each Visual Text Box Editor (commonly known as "WYSIWIG editor") will require activation prior to entering text.
- The Virtual Classroom and Lightweight Chat applets will require activation after a student or instructor joins a chat.
- The Blackboard Content Player (SCORM) feature fails to function after installation of the Microsoft update.

MinutesDDLC Meeting — March 31, 2006

DDLC Meeting — March 31, 2006 PVCC 10:00 a.m.

DRAFT

1. Welcome and Introductions.

The meeting started at 10:11 a.m., John Downey presiding.

Attendees:

John Downey, Laurie Hillstock, Kristen Kelly, Charles Boling, Bob Vawter, susan Kennedy, Kristy Walker, Mike Turner, Linda Capone Claussen, Steve Sachs, Scott Langhorst, Sue Ann Curran, Ralph Lucia, Rebecca Blankenship, Bill Hightower, Sheila Hobbs, Jamie Shetrone, Susan Beasley, Rio McBride, Inez Farrell, Mary Clare DiGiacomo, Ruth Smith, and Rebecca Kittleberger.

2. Update on ASAC actions concerning DDLC Reorganization.
Scott Langhorst read both of the ASAC resolutions to DDLC members which outlined the renaming of the ASAC DDLC to ASAC Educational Technology Committee and which clarified the role of the VCCS DDLC relative to the ASAC Educational Technology Committee.
Some DDLC members expressed concern about the proposed membership of the DDLC as worded. The wording left the appointment of DDLC members up to each College president, which is the current appointment structure a well. However, John and Scott pointed out that the CFAC representative to ASAC requested that faculty members also be appointed to the DDLC and noted that Vice Presidents were supportive of that request. Some members were concerned that some presidents might appoint a faculty member to the committee instead of an instructional technology person, who might have a broader knowledge of influencing academic technology issues. DDLC members discussed various options, including expanding the committee to include faculty representatives rather than replacing slots currently occupied by instructional technology personnel. John Downey indicated that he and Steve Sachs (the governance commission chair) would discuss DDLC committee membership with Dr. Sullivan.
Scott Langhorst read and explained the ASAC discussion item on reviewing the “VDEN Academic Standards” as it relates to proctored activities. Scott and Steve Sachs provided a history of the document and indicated that it was approved through the ASAC and ACOP back when distance learning consisted primarily of asynchronous compressed video courses. Scott mentioned that ASAC viewed the issues regarding proctoring to be broader than distance learning alone and requested a joint committee meeting at the next ASAC between the educational concerns and Educational Technology Committees. In the meantime, Scott emphasized that vice presidents were asked to survey faculty to determine the extent that proctored activities are currently happening at each college. He recommended that DDLC members should work with their VPs to ensure faculty are surveyed.
Steve Sachs talked about House Bill HR609 that just passed as part of the federal higher education reauthorization act. The bill requires colleges to verify the identity of each individual registered to take distance learning courses.

3. Update on Enterprise Initiatives.
Sue Ann Curran described current VCCS IT enterprise initiatives. Ralph Lucia then handed out a document updating the committee on ITS’ current and planned tasks that relate to Blackboard. He requested input from the committee on how to prioritize the list of tasks. Ralph Lucia also stated that ITS was still working on the Blackboard 6.3 test environment. Once that testing environment is ready, the Blackboard 6.3 upgrade can be tested to identify any issues that the upgrade may cause in production. In the meantime, Ralph wanted DDLC to provide feedback regarding the priorities of bringing the various building blocks identified at the last DDLC into production.
Ralph explained the two types of Building Blocks: Freeware & Open Source. Freeware comes “as is” at no cost. Since the source code is typically not provided with freeware, those building blocks cannot be altered if they cause any issues in production. Open Source software typically comes with the source code and thus can often be programmed differently if issues arise. Ralph also mentioned that although all of the building blocks requested at the last DDLC meeting come without a cost, ITS staff time devoted to testing and implementing such software should not be overlooked.
John Downey recommended, and the committee agreed, to start with the MERLOT Building Block as a test, since that was the only Open Source software provided by Blackboard that includes support. Once that building block is implemented and tested in the test database, then it could be launched in the production environment. Once that action is taken and the impact on end users is assessed, other building blocks could be tested using the same methodology. John suggested that the DDLC organize itself at the next meeting to develop a procedure for prioritizing additional Building Blocks for ITS. The document provided by Ralph is appended to these minutes.

Break for lunch.

Note: John Downey had to return to BRCC for faculty interviews. He asked Mary Clare DiGiacomo to fill in as chair for the afternoon.

4. Update/discussion on Course Coding for Distance Learning.
Rebecca Kittleberger handed out the “Course Coding in PeopleSoft” 3/30/06 draft and reported that the A&R Peoplesoft workgroup recommended that the document be approved by DDLC and subsequently by ASAC. Some DDLC members suggested that no one in the A&R workgroup has sufficient expertise in distance learning to understand the coding issues involved. DDLC made several suggestions for Rebecca to take back to the A&R workgroup. The major suggestions made by the DDLC included:
-Replace the term “Blended Courses” with “Hybrid/Blended Courses” so that the colleges that have used the term “Hybrid Courses” in publications can still use it.
-The committee suggested developing a category for real-time (synchronous) distance courses, such as those taught using Centra. The term “Virtual-RT” (real time) was suggested.
-DDLC Members discussed whether the term “Compressed Video” be changed to “Interactive Television”?
-If the LMS Panel is going to be used in the future for identifying courses, then should we be telling colleges that they do not have to use it now?

DDLC members discussed the possibility of a joint meeting between DDLC representatives and the A&R Peoplesoft workgroup in order to finalize the document for presentation at ASAC.

5. Blackboard Template Courses: Copy policy recommendation.
Steve Sachs recommended that the VCCS establish a policy in regards to coping courses designed as templates that do not follow the normal naming convention because they are templates and not courses offered in a given semester. Ralph Lucia explained that if a college gives VCCS ITS a course template, and indicates to them the number of courses that the college wants created based on the template, ITS can accommodate that request.




6. Update on the status of the VCCS DL Survey Committee.
Robert Vawter handed out and discussed the March 10, 2006, minutes of the DL Survey meeting.

7. “Refine toolsets in the shared course-management system.”
Robert Vawter asked the committee members to provide responses to Goal #18C, “Refine toolsets in the shared course-management system,” from the 2005-06 Chancellor’s Goals.
He indicated that members would be surveyed on this question after the New Horizons Conference. DDLC members asked for clarification regarding the meaning of “refine toolsets.” The committee was told that upgrading to Blackboard version 6.3 is one example and adding the MERLOT Building Block would be another. Bob also provided members with a list of tools that the VCCS MERLOT Team had identified in the MERLOT collection. The list is available at http://merlot.vccs.edu by clicking on “DL Tools,” which is located under the heading of “Dateline 2009 & MERLOT.”

8. Software titles purchased by the colleges to be run on their computers.
Robert Vawter told the committee that there are many software titles being purchased by multiple colleges without the benefit of pooling their purchases. The committee was told that AS&R is looking into the possibility of putting together a “software menu” of titles owned or being considered by several of our colleges. This menu would contain negotiated software prices that any college could purchase at substantial saving. This does not mean that the software would be enterprise versions but rather that contracts could be negotiated by the system for colleges to opt in or out of. The committee was asked if their colleges would be interested in this possibility, and many stated that they thought it was a good idea.

9. From the floor.
A committee member asked if there was a formal peer review form for distance learning courses. The committee was shown the “Quality Assurance for Asynchronous Distance Learning in the VCCS” plan that was drafted in 2000. This plan is located on the ITDE web site (http://itde.vccs.edu) under the “For College” menu. Some members of the committee also asked if faculty should be required to receive training on how to teach a distance learning course. Some colleges have an On-line Academy for Distance Learning instructors and PVCC has an online certification program for its DL faculty.

10. Next meeting.
The next DDLC meeting is scheduled for Friday, June 2, 2006. The meeting location will be announced as the date approaches. Mary Clare reminded the group that elections for chairperson would occur at that meeting.

Blackboard & Merlot

From: Ralph Lucia [mailto:rlucia@vccs.edu]
Sent: Mon 4/3/2006 4:23 PM
To: John DowneyCc: Neil Matkin; Monty Sullivan; learn@vccs.edu
Subject: Blackboard & Merlot

John,

At the DDLC meeting on Friday, it was my understanding that the group recommended that the Merlot Building Block should be given a high priority. Many Building Blocks (both free and third party commercial varieties) have been suggested for implementation, but a procedure has not yet been established for the DDLC to recommend Blackboard Building Blocks for the VCCS shared Blackboard system. Again, it is my understanding that the deployment of the Merlot Building Block will serve as a starting point, and the DDLC will work to establish criteria and procedures for recommending other Building Blocks for system-wide deployment in the future. I am happy to report that the Merlot Building Block has now been deployed in the training instance of Blackboard. Blackboard Administrators are able to provide access to this instance for those who require it.

http://bbtrain.vccs.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp

ITS requests that colleges assist in the testing of this Building Block. Upon completion of testing, ITS will deploy it as soon as feasible. We do, however, reserve the right to temporarily disable any Building Block as a troubleshooting measure should we experience problems in our production system. As I mentioned in the meeting, our sources at Blackboard inform us that Building Blocks are known to occasionally cause problems with Blackboard.

ITS staff requests that the DDLC also examine the features that will be available with the implementation of Version 6.3 and provide recommendations regarding which (if any) optional features should be made available immediately at the upgrade. Please see the attached for a list of 6.3 features. The training system mentioned above has been upgraded to Version 6.3 for colleges to preview these new features.

Ralph

Student AND Faculty Blackboard Email Problems

Posted by Carol Childress, VCCS Client Services, on Monday, April 03, 2006 - 11:57 am:

The following service interruption notice has just been posted:

Subject:
Missing Emails sent from Blackboard System

Details:
Due to problems last week with our move of Blackboard onto a new load balancing system, the Blackboard send mail function encountered problems trying to send emails from within the Blackboard system to email systems supporting students and faculty. Some emails may have been lost. Impact: Faculty and students who sent emails via Blackboard from last Thursday (Mar. 30) through 10:00 AM this morning (Apr. 3) should assume they did not arrive, and should resend the items.

Estimated Resolution Time:
N/A

Contact Information:
VCCS Client Services cssupport@vccs.edu

MERLOT Teaching with Technology Webcast

On Thursday, March 30 at 1 pm EST free webcast, “MERLOT Teaching with Technology Webcast,” sponsored by MERLOT and the TLT Group, will explore how MERLOT’s online learning objects and other resources can assist faculty in teaching with technology. Members of the MERLOT Teaching and Technology discipline board will facilitate this interactive presentation, which will feature UNC faculty actively using MERLOT. The TLT Group, led by Steve Gilbert and Steve Ehrmann, works with institutions around the world to improve teaching and learning by making more appropriate and cost-effective use of information technology. The program will be led by Ray Purdom, UNC Greensboro, and John Prusch, SUNY Learning Network, and will feature Cathy Swift, Editor of Business Editorial Board, and Laura Franklin, Editor of World Languages Editorial Board who will showcase award winning materials from their disciplines. To register for this workshop, please visit:

http://www.tltgroup.org/Registration/Registration/CEMarch2006.htm

Bob

Robert VawterDirector,
E-learning Delivery System Administrator
Virginia Community College System
804.819.4692 Fax: 804.819.4770
rvawter@vccs.edu

Summer 2006 Bb Requests

Request form: http://tncc.edu/faculty/smith/bb.htm

We are now processing Summer06 *distributive course requests only. We are no longer combining classes. You must request one shell per class. If you have questions about this please call (825-2807).

Distance and hybrid course shells will automatically be created from data in SIS. You will be notified by email when this process is completed.

Requests will be processed every Friday.

*Types of courses:

• Distance learning courses offer students the flexibility of completing some or all of their coursework and assignments without having to come on campus.
• Hybrid courses, at TNCC, are defined as courses that meet for at least half the course time in face-to-face (f2f) mode and the remainder of the time online.
• Distributive (Web enhanced) courses use technology in concert with face-to-face classes.
  

New Online Student Orientation

The new online student orientation is now available. There is no on-campus orientation scheduled for Spring 8W2. Please direct your DL students to the following URL:

http://www.tncc.edu/blackboard/orientation.htm

Spring 2006 Distance and Distributive Learning Blackboard Report

If you still need a distance, hybrid, or distributive course shell or an organization you must call Ruth Smith (825-2807) before requesting a course shell. Shells will be processed every Friday.
Request a New Course Shell

TNCC's Definitions

• Distance learning courses offer students the flexibility of completing some or all of their coursework and assignments without having to come on campus.
• Hybrid courses, at TNCC, are defined as courses that meet for at least half the course time in face-to-face (f2f) mode and the remainder of the time online.
• Distributive (Web enhanced) courses use technology in concert with face-to-face classes.

• 478 Blackboard Course Shells created
• 29 No loads (contract class, cancelled classes, organizations, etc.)
• 449 Blackboard Shells loaded with students
• 9253 students loaded


BPS
• 33 Distance
• 92 Distributive
• 20 Hybrid
• 1 Other
• 146 Courses


CH
• 10 Distance
• 89 Distributive
• 1 Organization
• 100 Courses


MET
• 20 Distance
• 80 Distributive
• 1 Organization
• 1 Other
• 102 Courses


NHSS
• 14 Distance
• 103 Distributive
• 2 Organizations
• 119 Courses


SS
• 10 Distributive
• 1 Other
• 11 Courses

Blackboard Storage Capacity Upgrade Notification

From: Neil Matkin
Sent: Wednesday, December 21, 2005 4:51 PM
To: dlist_VCCS_presidents; dlist_vice_presidents_academic; dlist_vccs_technology_council
Cc: dlist_vccs_presidents_secretaries; DList_System_Office_Cabinet
Subject: Blackboard Storage Capacity Upgrade Notification

Friends,

Please forgive yet another message related to things Blackboard but I unintentionally left out some critical information in my last communication. As you know, our Blackboard system is the second largest system we use in the VCCS today but you may not realize that it is the most used around the clock. Students and faculty are on the Blackboard system all over the state literally 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. We've made substantial upgrades in the last year in the hardware (primarily processing power) that runs Blackboard as well as upgrading to Blackboard version 6. Shortly after the new year begins you will receive a great deal of information on upgrades to the Network Virginia connections to all campuses which we believe will have substantial positive impact on all of our systems, including Blackboard.

What could we have possibly left out? The answer is storage capacity. As Blackboard utilization has grown exponentially over the last six months, it has become necessary to upgrade storage for the system. We have been patiently waiting for all of the pieces to arrive and the good news is that they are here. The bad news? Blackboard has to be turned off for 24-36 hours to upgrade the storage. From a utilization standpoint -- picking the time when we would interrupt the fewest users -- the absolute best time to do this happens to be on Tuesday, December 27th, shortly after St. Nick arrives back at the Pole (or at Lord Fairfax, whichever comes first).

What are the benefits? They are many:

1) Dramatic increase in available storage space for Blackboard courses,
2) Improvement in the performance and reliability of the Blackboard system,
3) Decrease the amount of time it takes to back up the Blackboard system, and
4) Decrease the amount of time to restore Blackboard in case of a system failure.

After the space is added, the Blackboard system will have over two terabytes of space allocated. That's tech speak for "considerably more than a whole lot". There are super computers without that much storage! We are excited about this as it will allow for more growth in our recently deployed Blackboard Content System. Also, some of this new space will be earmarked for the ability to provide individual, course-level archives for all courses on the system.

The work will begin Monday, December 26 at 8:00 PM and will continue through at least Tuesday, December 27 at 8:00 PM. The number one group impacted during that period in NVCC's ELI courses and we have already worked with our partners there to accommodate the schedule. Our goal is to have the Blackboard system back online within 24 hours of taking it down, 36 hours worst case. I apologize for the inconvenience this presents to students and faculty using Blackboard over the holiday break. I am confident that the long term benefits of this upgrade will reward their patience. I have asked staff to echo this message to all Blackboard accounts effective immediately and information will be provided online to anyone attempting to get into Blackboard during the time when it is being upgraded.

Thanks for your support and for working together to make VCCS systems absolutely world class. Students first, no excuses!

Best for the holidays,

Neil

H. Neil Matkin
Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Services
Virginia Community College System



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Blackboard Degradation in Performance

Friends,

As announced previously, our Blackboard environment continues to experience a degradation in performance that is directly related to the size of some tables in the database that contains statistical information. We have received considerable feedback about the importance of this data to faculty and college administration, and have therefore postponed the trimming of these tables. Although we would have preferred to wait until after to the holiday break to reduce the data in these tables, the Blackboard system is now experiencing degradation once again and it is my opinion that any further postponement represents an unacceptable risk, especially for the Eli classes at Northern Virginia Community College (since they will be using Blackboard during the break).

Later today, the Blackboard staff will coordinate with the database administrators to begin trimming these tables by removing all data in them prior to September 1, 2005. This action will reduce the size of the problem tables by about 32 million lines. This should be enough to get us safely through the break after which time we will initiate conversations with Blackboard to seek a permanent fix to this issue or develop a work around so valuable data is available as needed. It is important to note, that none of this data will be lost, but archived in another location. After the break, we will work on how to make the archived tables accessible to the colleges and trim the production tables back further as necessary ongoing performance and stability (keeping only the most recent 4 weeks).

It is extremely unfortunate that in the short term we are forced to choose between system stability and easy access to statistical information and, as I stated, we will take up this issue with Blackboard after the holidays. Long-term, we will provide some additional options to provide for both. In the meantime, I sincerely appreciate your patience and cooperation.

Best regards and happy holidays to all,

H. Neil Matkin
Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Services
Virginia Community College System
nmatkin@vccs.edu

Blackboard 5 Availability

Posted on Monday, December 19, 2005 - 12:58 pm:

---

Friends,

Just a quick note to remind everyone that BlackBoard version 5.5 (the old version) must be taken out of service at the end of this calendar year. We have been on the new system for about six months and BlackBoard very generously extended our 5.5 license (without additional cost) to allow faculty time to transition courses and resources to the new version. I realize several notes have gone out and I believe our community to be well informed on this but wanted to send one last note as a reminder.

I am excited for the new year, for renewed partnerships with everyone to move our shared agenda in the new year, and for continued and growing successes.

Happy holidays and New Year to all,

Neil

H. Neil Matkin
Vice Chancellor, Information Technology Services
Virginia Community College System
101 N. 14th Street Richmond, VA 23219

Blackboard Stats as of 12/14/05

Total number of students loaded into Bb 5312.


NHS
77 courses
11 Distance Learning
46 Distributive
MET
61 courses
15 Distance Learning
46 Distributive

BPS
112 courses
31 Distance Learning
17 Hybrid
64 Distributive

CH
70 courses
7 Distance Learning
63 Distributive

SS
8 courses
8 Distributive

VCCS MERLOT Team & Hurricane Katrina

From: Bob Vawter [mailto:rvawter@vccs.edu]
Sent: Sat 12/3/2005 10:46 AM

---

The VCCS MERLOT team is playing a major role in directly helping students affected by Hurricane Katrina. The article below is from the December 2005, MERLOT Newsletter. The complete newsletter is attached.

Without a Home, How do we educate? MERLOT, Katrina and the Delgado Community College

Delgado Community College, an institution of the Louisiana Board of Regents with campuses in New Orleans and Covington, Louisiana, was one of the colleges that was impacted by Hurricane Katrina. The academic year had only just begun when the storm hit, closing the college and leaving faculty and students displaced and scrambling for shelter in other parts of the region. In an effort to salvage the instructional year for its academic community, Delgado administrators started looking for solutions. One such answer began with a phone call from Cindy Siegrist, Delgado CC Office from the Office of Faculty Development to Michael Waguespack, a former Delgado faculty member, now teaching at Northern Virginia Community College of the Virginia Community College System. Siegrist and Waguespack brainstormed about how Delgado could quickly bring more courses online to resume instruction for its students. The obvious need was to find quality online materials that had been classroom-tested and that were ready to go. Waguespack immediately thought of MERLOT as a solution for Delgado’s course content needs. He contacted NVCC colleague, Laura Franklin, Co-Editor of the World Languages collection of MERLOT, Laura in turn contacted MERLOT administration for help and received immediate support for collaboration with Delgado. A project was born.

The Editorial Boards of MERLOT in various disciplines have mobilized to create annotated Personal Collections within MERLOT, matching content to the syllabi of Delgado instructors. These personal collections contain materials that will help Delgado CC instructors move forward in their instruction without ‘reinventing the wheel.’ Two collections in English as a Second Language have been started and can be seen at:

http://www.merlot.org/artifact/CollectionDetail.po?collectionOId=1010000000000274224&oid=3000000000000455964

and

http://www.merlot.org/artifact/CollectionDetail.po?collectionOId=1010000000000274211&oid=3000000000000455964

MERLOT administration received requests from other Delgado faculty and other Editorial Boards have begun answering the call. The early success of this project can be attributed to the productive interaction of two MERLOT partners. Both the VCCS and the Louisiana Board of Regents share a longstanding commitment to the development of the MERLOT collection. The faculty members from these institutions have collaborated as Editors and Peer Reviewers for years. MERLOT has afforded these systems the opportunity to become a community in the most human sense of the word, which in turn makes collaboration that much more meaningful for all the partners of MERLOT.

It was also due to MERLOT’s maturity as a collection that it was possible to build such a solution in short order. The collections started in this Delgado project, due to their public availability, will be of equal value to users of MERLOT throughout the Gulf region and those in the rest of the world. Faculty members who create collections will enrich their own courses and make MERLOT a richer resource for everyone. Through this collaborative effort, MERLOT members and others have discovered a valuable resource in our Personal Collections which enable instructors to have immediate access to learning materials used by others. For more information contact webmaster@merlot.org.

---

Information about MERLOT course content that is available to all VCCS faculty to use in their courses is located at
http://itde.vccs.edu/MERLOT

The VCCS MERLOT Team

• Bruce Brown from NRCC serves on MERLOT's Business Editorial Board
• Deborah Clarkson from VHCC serves on MERLOT's Health Sciences Editorial Board
• Laura Franklin from NVCC serves as Co-Editor of MERLOT's World Languages Editorial Board
• Margarita Hodge from NVCC serves on MERLOT's World Languages Editorial Board
  Corinne Hoisington from CVCC serves on MERLOT's Information Technology Editorial Board
• Idana Hamilton from SwVCC serves on MERLOT's Teaching & Technology Editorial Board
• William Paquette from TCC serves as Co-Editor of MERLOT's History Editorial Board
• Rassa Rassai from NVCC serves on MERLOT's Engineering Editorial Board
• Reva Savkar from NVCC serves on MERLOT's Chemistry Editorial Board
• Patricia Taylor from TNCC serves on MERLOT's Mathematics Editorial Board
• Marty Zahn from TNCC serves on MERLOT's Biology Editorial Board
• Bob Vawter from the System Office is the MERLOT Project Director for the VCCS
  
  The VCCS MERLOT Team is looking for additional VCCS faculty and librarians to be a part of MERLOT. Anyone interested should contact Bob Vawter.

Robert Vawter
Director, E-learning Delivery System Administrator
Virginia Community College System
804.819.4692 Fax: 804.819.4770
rvawter@vccs.edu

Blackboard Content System

Posted on Friday, November 18, 2005 - 3:38 pm:

---

The Blackboard Content System gives faculty members a central location to manage their online course content and the ability to share content with other instructors. The Content System also creates a virtual space for librarians to manage eReserves for courses.

Over 80 faculty members, librarians, and administrators participated in a six week pilot of the Blackboard Content System. The pilot began in early September and ended the week of November 7th with a wrap-up online meeting on November 9. We would like to thank the participants for their contributions and insights during the pilot.

Content Sharing

Participants were pleased with the ability to share content between their courses and with other faculty members. Usage has been initially tentative, but with the newly enabled WYSIWYG editor integration, we expect more adoption, and in general expect usage to grow gradually. Several colleges reported using the workflow and sharing capabilities of the system to co-operatively develop college documents.

Quotas

Initial quotas for new users will be set at 100 MB, with Learning System Administrators having the capability to increase that to 200 MB. Colleges are encouraged to use Blackboard Organizations to share content among programs and groups both at colleges and across the VCCS.

e-Portfolios

The pilot provided staff and faculty members with an opportunity to explore the potential uses of ePortfolios. While there was some interest in the ePortfolio feature, most faculty and colleges saw it as a tool having more application for students. The VCCS has not systematically investigated the e-Portfolio software marketplace however and this feature will not be available to students when the Content System is released.

WebDAV

One issue that did arise during the pilot was the ease of use of WebDav (using Microsoft’s Web Folders to manage Content System content). A number of participants encountered difficulties with WebDav and Microsoft's client has known bugs. As a result, ITS is investigating a system-wide license for a software product with better performance managing web folders.

e-Reserves

We are still developing our understanding of the e-Reserves functionality and how it will most effectively integrate with our existing library systems' capabilities. We will work with VCCS and college librarians to effectively implement this functionality.

The Blackboard Content System will be released to all faculty and staff members on November 21, 2005.

Thanks

David

---

David Carter-Tod
ITS - Client Services Virginia Community College System
dcartertod@vccs.edu

Macromedia Captivate

New program ready for checkout from library.

I have 50 copies of Macromedia Captivate. If you want one you must email me so I can put you on the checkout list. (We still have 10 Acrobat 6, 23 Macromedia MX and 2 Camtasia Studio/Snag-It licenses left. Please send separate request.)

More Info: http://www.macromedia.com/software/robodemo/

Moving Content

There is some confusion between the different ways to move course materials from an “old course” to a new blank shell.
There are several ways to do this.
1. Export/Import
2. Archive
3. Copy

Which is best? That’s up to you. Attached are single page Word documents (.doc) that describe the function of each method and the process. If you need help moving content from an old semester to a current semester please contact either me or Jan Klingberg (klingbergj@tncc.edu 825-3880) for help.

Below is a tip about the process I received from an instructor. Please feel free to send your comments and I will pass them along to the group.


Professor’s Tips:

“I have done this twice and have noticed that "Copy" will rearrange the order of items with in Content Areas. I have better luck with "Export" or "Archive" and then an "Import". Because we are not given the "Restore", the archived file that is imported does not contain the student's activity.”

Export Course.doc
Import Package.doc
Copy Course.doc
Archive Course.doc

Spring 2006 Blackboard Requests

It’s time to request your Spring 2006 Blackboard Shells. Fill out the request form located at: http://tncc.edu/faculty/smith/bb.htm . Requests are processed every Friday. (You must know your section number before you can request a course shell.)

Bb shells created as of November 1, 2005:
82 Distance
53 Distributive
17 Hybrid

Distance-a course taught using Blackboard via the Internet.
Distributive- a course taught using technology (Blackboard) in concert with face-to-face classes.
Hybrid- a course conducted in a combination of traditional classroom lecture and online (Distance Learning) delivery.

TNCC Distance Learning Committee

TNCC Distance Learning Committee meeting minutes are located at: http://tncc.edu/faculty/smith/dl.htm